Friends for Never (6 page)

Authors: Nancy Krulik

BOOK: Friends for Never

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Katie watched the little girls parading in front of the audience. Desperately, Katie hoped the magic wind would come back. If it returned right now, Suzanne would be herself, just in time to go onstage.

But deep down, Katie knew that would never happen. The magic wind never came when there were people around. It only showed up when Katie was alone. And that meant Katie was going to have to go out there, in front of all those people, and model the leather pants.

“Okay, Suzanne, it’s your turn,” the woman who was running the fashion show said.

Katie took a deep breath. She lifted up her neck and pushed her shoulders back, trying to copy the way Suzanne had been walking in the school yard.

Then she strutted out onto the runway. It wasn’t easy, since Katie had never worn such high heels before. She blinked hard as the lights blasted right into her eyes. She couldn’t see a thing. Of course, that was probably a good thing. Seeing the people in the audience would be too scary.

But she sure could hear them.

“Hey,” one girl giggled. “That model is wearing her pants
backward
.” The crowd of kids she was sitting with began laughing with her.

Katie looked down. Oh, no! They were right. The big back pockets were in the front. Katie had been in such a hurry to get the pants on that she hadn’t noticed!

“Why is she stretching her neck that way?” someone else said. “She looks weird.”

“Do you see the way she’s walking? It’s like she’s on stilts.”

Soon it seemed like everyone in the audience was laughing at Katie. She blinked hard and tried to keep from crying. This was so embarrassing!

Katie knew she was supposed to smile. But she couldn’t make herself look happy. She was too miserable. The high heels were starting to really hurt her feet. The lights were blinding her.

But as she turned around and headed back toward the curtain, Katie breathed a little easier. It was almost over ...

Boom!

Just as she’d gotten back behind the curtain, Katie tripped over one of her high heels. The audience couldn’t see her fall, but everyone had heard the thud. All of the models in the dressing room began to laugh.

Katie’s eyes welled up with tears. She stood and ran back to the little bathroom in the corner of the dressing room. Well, she sort of ran. Running is kind of hard to do in high heels!

Chapter 12

Katie couldn’t believe what a mess she’d made of things. Suzanne was going to be really embarrassed when she found out what had happened during the show. After all, nobody knew it had been Katie up there. Everyone in the audience thought it was Suzanne who was wearing her pants backward and walking funny.

Suzanne was definitely the model everyone would remember
.

Just then, Katie felt a strong wind blowing through her hair. Katie knew right away what that meant. The magic wind was back.

The wind circled wildly around Katie. Katie looked around for something to hold onto. Something that would keep her from being blown away. But there was nothing around. Katie shut her eyes and hugged herself tightly.

There was nothing she could do but wait for the wind to stop.

A few seconds later, the magic wind stopped. Just like that.

Slowly, Katie opened her eyes. She looked around. She was back in the dressing room in front of the mirror. But she wasn’t alone anymore. Suzanne was standing beside her.

“Suzanne,” Katie said. “Are you okay?”

Suzanne bit her lip. “Yes,” she said. “I mean no. I mean ... I don’t know what I mean. Katie? What happened? How did I get here?”

Katie didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t tell Suzanne what had really happened. “Well, you were at the fashion show . . .” she began. There, at least that was the truth.

“Oh, no!” Suzanne interrupted. “My pants are on backward.”

“I know,” Katie said. “But ...”

“This is the worst day of my life,” Suzanne moaned. “At least I think it is. I don’t know what’s going on. I mean ... I was up on the stage, I think. And then I was back here again and ... I’m not really sure. I’m so confused.”

“You were just nervous,” Katie said. “People get confused when they get nervous.”

“I really messed things up,” Suzanne said as she began to cry. “And lots of kids from school were there. They’re going to make fun of me.”

“No, they’re not,” Katie assured her.

“Yes, they will. They’ll all be happy to make fun of me. Especially after I made such a big deal about being a model.” Suzanne gave Katie a funny look. “How come you’re being so nice to me? I thought you hated me.”

Katie shook her head. “I was mad at you. But I could never
hate
you, Suzanne.”

Suzanne shrugged. “Well, not everyone is as nice as you, Katie. Jessica was out there, and so were Miriam, Mandy, Becky, and Zoe. I invited them. What was I thinking?”

“You didn’t know that . . .” Katie began.

“I think I even heard George laughing in the audience!” Suzanne sobbed. “I’m going to be the joke of the fourth grade. I’m never going to model again!”

“Don’t say that,” Katie pleaded. “You’ll do great next time.”

Suzanne shook her head. “There won’t be any next time.”

Chapter 13

That night, Katie lay in her bed. She felt awful. She might have been mad at Suzanne, but that didn’t mean she had wanted to ruin her modeling career.

But that’s exactly what Katie had done. And what was worse, Katie knew Suzanne was right. The kids in school
were
all going to make fun of her.

And it was all Katie’s fault.

Katie stared at the ceiling. There had to be some way she could help her friend. But how? There was so much the kids could laugh about. Suzanne had been holding her head funny and walking like a man on stilts. Worst of all, she’d done everything with her pants on
backward
. . .

That was it!

Katie had just gotten one of her great ideas!